The Superior times. [volume] (Superior, Wis.) 1870-1912, 1887-07-09
CHICKENS AND EGGS.



Eggs can be kept in a cool place for a
considerable period without any special
preservatiye, and have known eggs so
kept quite good for cooking at ths end Of
three months. IL one has an ice cellar,
some portion of which can be given up to
keeping eggs, he needs no other preserya-
tive, and / believe that frozen eggs retain
more of their original qualities than those
kept by means of any of the preparations
which have already been described. The
reason for this is not far to seek. When
an egg IS frozen, everything is held in sls-
pension, and no process of change or decay
goes on. Therefore, | should advise those
who have cellars of this description to use
the opportunities at their disposal, as they
need not trouble themselves any more
about the matter. All that will be needed
is to tit up some shelves IN which are holes
large enough for the eggs to stand up in,
but not to 90 through. Or coarse wire lat
tlce may be used, of mesh that will effect
the same purpose. The disadvantage Of
this system is that if the eggs are not
properly thawed they crack, end it is often
difficult TO avoid their cracking in any case.
They should be very gradually brought to
their normal condition, first by placing
them III an atmosphere but a very few de
grees warmer than the cellar, and after two
or three hours there, gradually exposing
them in yet warmer air until the ordinary
temperature has been reached.
There are many poultry dealers who only
wish to preserve the surplus eggs for
n few weeks, and in this case is not neces-
sary TO use any preservatIve or 10 freeze
them. All that Is requisite Is 10 have q
cool cellar, harder, or even closet, fitted
with the perforated shelves already de-
scribed. The eggs should be placed broad
end downward on these shelves, but thew
may with advantage be turned about twice
n week, keeping hem, however, almost all
the time with the broad end downwards.
The reason for this is that when so kept
the air space does not increase IN size, and
and the egg seems to keep better. 1t IS
very good plan to arrange the eggs in uni
form rows from front to back so that those
laid first can be used first. | once knew q
poultry keeper who had stoneware mugs
for keeping his eggs in. These would each
contain about 100, and the eggs were
placed in regularly every day as they were
laid. As soon as one was full II was
emptied into another mug so that the first
laid were in that case at the top. This
gentleman never appeared to take any
especial care III the matter, and his eggs
were wonderfully fresh when three or four
months old; but he had a very cool cellar
Nitit the mugs were htlJls anu ALIdl III lSt
have been the reason. Without a cool place
it could not have been done IN such a free
and easy fashion. That was the Sc
cret OF his success.
Claim has been made that eggs can be
preserved If the air coming to them Is first
filtered so as to remove all germs there
from. In this way the eggs are packed in
cotton wool or wadding, and it is claimed
that this succeeds very well indeed, |
have never personally tried this process,
and, therefore, cannot speak of il, but am
inclined to place much reliance upon it,
for the reason that it is not enough in egg
preservation to keep germs away that are
without, as in most eggs there are the
germs of decay within the egg itself. Still
this is only hypothesis. and | should be
very glad to have some well-authenticated
experiments recorded.
Gypsum Is said to be a good preservative
of eggs. They should be packed III finely
pUlverized gypsum, and the only expert
ment recorded showed that they kept for
six months. But this was in a cool place,
and the cold air may have had Just as much
to do with the effective preservation as the
gypsum In fact, il is most desirable that
whatever process is adopted the storage
should be a cold one. This I regard as of
supreme Importance, and to my mind 1t
explains the reason why some processes
succeed AZ one time and in one place and
fail Mt another.-.StepheH Bedic, IN albany
CUitiCdtOr.